Ancient Darkness
by the closet emo
Summary: a kit gets a dream from StarClan, but it is interupted and she looses her voice. can she still warn the clans of the danger forewarned by StarClan?
1. Chapter 1

-1Prologue

A pool, glowing in the moonlight and sparkling with stars. It was devoid of life…but not for long.

A handsome tom stepped lightly down the well worn path to the pools edge. His flame colored pelt rippling silver under the moon's bright glow. A pale ginger she-cat padded softly next to him, the fur on their shoulders brushing with each step. When they reached the shimmering pool, they sat down and waited for the other cats of StarClan to come.

"Firestar?" the she-cat murmured, looking into the pool.

"Yes Sandstorm?" the tom answered equally soft.

"Do you think ThunderClan will survive what is to come?"

Firestar was silent for a bit, then he let out a sigh. He twined his tail with hers and turned to face her, his eyes shone with sadness. "I don't know." he admitted, "We can only hope."

Just then, another she-cat slid smoothly into place around the pool.

"Bluestar." Firestar said, and dipped his head in greeting.

"Firestar, Sandstorm." she replied, looking to each cat in turn. "I hope you have chosen wisely, Firestar. The fate of the forest lies in your decision." the silver cat spoke to the dark ginger tom in a low, serious voice. "not that I doubt you," she told him as he bristled, "but it is near impossible to tell if a cat will turn out good or bad when faced with responsibility. When given power."

"I have faith in my choice." replied Firestar.

"And I have faith in you." murmured Sandstorm, licking his cheek affectionately.

"As do I." a voice was heard from the top of the ridge.

"And I." came another.

The three already present cats looked up to see two more cats coming down the slope. A beautiful tortoise shell she-cat and a tall black and white tom stepped down to join them.

"You saved the forest, old and new, countless times before. Now the time has come once again." the tall cat said.

"Thank you Tallstar, for your kind words. But it will not be me this time." Firestar replied. His voice heavy with sorrow of having to warn the clans of the terrible danger. "I only have the unfortunate task of telling the clans of a horrible future."

"It is most unfortunate…" a new voice joined the small crowd, agreeing with Firestar.

"It is good to see you Oakheart." Bluestar purred.

"Though unfortunate, it is necessary." a huge white cat with great black paws put in as he too joined the small circle of cats.

"We've had peace for many moons. Unless there is trouble, our warriors will grow fat and lazy." came yet another voice, purring with amusement.

"Graystripe!" Firestar called to his old friend.

"Now that we're all here, can we get on with the discussion?" growled the large white cat.

"Keep your fur on Blackstar. We're getting there." said Bluestar calmly.

"You have been called here because of the new danger that threatens the forest." Bluestar mewed to the surrounding cats, "Firestar has been given the responsibility of choosing he cat to warn the clans." the silver-blue cat stepped back, a clear indication to Firestar to come forward and show his choice. He stepped up to the pool, and gently touched his muzzle to it. An image shimmered onto it's surface of a light brown kit with a chest and paws so white, they gleamed like sunshine on snow. She couldn't have been more then five moons of age, playing with her litter mates.

"A kit Firestar!" gasped the tortoise shell cat, "Is that wise?"

"Yes Spottedleaf." the flame pelted tom replied, "I believe so."

"She will not have been tainted by the lust for power." said Bluestar. Firestar nodded at her, thanking her for the support.

"Very well," growled Blackstar. "if you think it's such a good idea, ShadowClan agrees."

"WindClan will support your choice Firestar." said Tallstar.

"As will RiverClan." said Oakheart. Both Bluestar and Firestar were well respected in the other clans.

After hearing that every clan agreed, Firestar bent down and lapped at the pool. He fell into a dream-like trance as he sent the kit the terrifying omen. His eyes jerked open and a shiver went through his entire body, 'what was that?…probably nothing.' he thought to himself. "I only wish we could be of more help." he murmured as he sat up, shaking droplets of water from his whiskers..

"As do we all Firestar." said Graystripe, "but we don't even know what it is that will cause this."

"StarClan cannot see everything Graystripe." said Spottedleaf softly.

"I know, but it's frustrating. It pretty much goes against everything I thought I knew growing up." the air around the cats was filled with the purrs of amused cats, all thankful to have Graystripe there to ease the tension.

"This is all very well, but what if the clans do not agree with us? When all's said and done, it's up to them. We can't make them listen to this kit." pointed out Tallstar.

"What you say is true Tallstar, but we must have faith in that they can either avoid this all together, or be ready for it if it comes to pass." replied Sandstorm. Firestar blinked warmly at her, thankful that she was there with him. For had he not asked himself the very same question hundreds of times over? All they could do was hope. Hope that the clans understand the warning sent to them. Hope that they could come together and defeat this new enemy.

They must have faith.

Chapter One

It was just past sunrise, and already, Snowkit and Greykit were in trouble.

"why would you do something like that?!" cried their sister Pinekit. "now you have to clean it all up, that could take all day! And the apprentices have to go out to get more moss for the elders because you two decided to play with the stuff they gathered!"

"Great StarClan, Pinekit, you're sure getting worked up over this." said the ever adventurous tom Greykit, who had been the one to suggest playing with the moss.

"yeah Pinekit. It's not like they're not going to let us be apprentices just because we scattered some moss around the camp." said Snowkit softly, she was always soft-spoken and polite. She was loved by everyone in camp, even the old grump, Dustpelt; the oldest cat in ThunderClan. (Also, he was the worst tempered cat in all of ThunderClan.)

He would say sadly "she reminds me of Ferncloud." if someone asked why he tolerated her just coming in to talk. Snowkit's brother could always make her do things to get them in trouble.

"You two!" a voice called to them from near the warriors den. "less talking, more picking up that moss!" one of the warriors, Berrytail, walked up with his apprentice Silverpaw, a pretty she-cat with long gray fur. He looked down at the kits with a good natured gleam in his eyes. "You got yourselves into this mess, so you have to clean it up. That's what Bramblestar would say. But kits will be kits. I remember when I was a kit with Mouseclaw and Hazelfur. We actually raided Jaypelt's den and messed up everything. Got a stern talking to for that one!"

"Wow. You messed up Jaypelt's den?" Greykit asked incredulously. Besides Bramblestar, Dustpelt, and Whitewing (their mother), the kits couldn't think of a worse cat to mess with then the short tempered medicine cat. Even though he was blind, Jaypelt always knew what was going on and found some way to get mad. He was the scariest cat the kits could think of.

"well, not really."

"huh? What do you mean 'not really'?" asked Greykit.

"Jaypelt wasn't the medicine cat then. Actually, he wasn't even born then! It was another, almost as scary, cat named Leafpool."

"Leafpool? I think I've heard that name before…" Snowkit trailed off.

"well, you can ask the elders about it later. Or better yet, Squirrelflight! She was Leafpool's sister. Well, I think I'll take my leave here, don't want to get in trouble for distracting you kits." he said getting up, "that mouse looks pretty good, nice and plump and oh, mouse dung! I was too slow, I'm getting too old for this." he mumbled to himself as he walked over to the fresh-kill pile.

"That's probably going to take a long time." said Silverpaw, looking around at all moss still needing to be picked up, "perhaps I could help?"

"That would be great," admitted Snowkit, "but, like Berrytail said, we got ourselves into this. It would be wrong to ask you for help."

"What are you talking about?!" Greykit almost shrieked, "of course we could use her help! It'll take forever to get this all up!"

"You should have thought of that before you threw the moss at me." growled Snowkit. Why didn't Greykit get it? This was their fault, asking Silverpaw to help would be wrong!

"Well, you can help him if you want, but I don't think you should and I wont accept your help. I'll attack you while you're collecting the moss so it'll go flying everywhere." Silverpaw purred in amusement at the small brown kit defending her honor so fiercely.

"Very well. But if you're not done before sun high, I'm coming back to help you two." she promised before padding away to the apprentices den.

"Geez Snowkit! What was that all about?!" demanded Pinekit, "you could have been done before sun high, but no! why didn't you accept her help?"

"it's wrong!" exclaimed Snowkit, surprised that her brother did not realize this..

"no it's not! We should have let her help!" cried Greykit.

"it's not like I was never going to let her help." said Snowkit softly, "I would have let her if she came back."

"but still! She's gone now! We should have let her help."

"oh?" a voice came from behind them, Bramblestar had walked up during their conversation and had been sitting behind them, listening to most of it.

"Bramblestar!" the kits squeaked.

"Greykit, Snowkit is right. It would be wrong to accept help for a punishment." he said.

"figures he'd take her side…" Greykit mumbled while looking away rebelliously.

"what was that?" asked Snowkit.

"nothing!" Greykit said quickly.

"that isn't to say you should never accept help. It has been said, 'pride comes before a fall'. If Silverpaw comes back, I think you should let her help." the kits nodded enthusiastically, both praying to StarClan that Silverpaw would come back.

**I forgot to write this for the first chapter and this is the only time I will write this so pay attention…ahem, I DO NOT OWN WARRIORS. I barely even own my characters. T.T (Partial credit goes to Adderstar of ValorClan.)**

**________________________________________________________________________**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

That night, Snowkit curled up next to her sister in the soft nest made by her mother in the nursery. Though peaceful at first, she would not be getting a good nights rest for a long while.

Snowkit found herself sitting beneath the ancient oak, looking out over the lake. She walked up to the shore and looked down at the tiny fish swimming around. Suddenly, she heard a twig snap behind her, she wheeled around, her hackles bristling, only to find no one there. She walked over to where she heard it from, and sniffed around. There had definitely been another cat here. she jogged lightly into the woods, nose to the ground, following the twisting path of the scent trail. The trail led out of the forest and onto the moor. She paused, unsure if she should leave ThunderClan territory, when she saw a flash of orange. That smell! It was the cat she had been following! She took off after it, all doubts forgotten. She ran faster then she had ever run before, but he seemed to only have to take one stride and he was ten fox-lengths away!

He ran over the crest of a hill and disappeared, Snowkit struggling to keep up. She bounded over the hill and almost crashed into him. She skidded to a halt and looked at the large orange tom while trying to catch her breath. He looked down at her patiently, his face giving away no expression but his eyes twinkling with kindness.

"hello little one," he said to her, "I am Firestar, the old leader of ThunderClan." she saw his mouth moving, but his voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"Firestar! I've heard about you! Dustpelt told me how you saved the clans."

"still grumpy as ever, so I've seen. But yes, I am Firestar. Now it's your turn."

"huh?"

"I have a message for you. You must warn the clans."

"about what?" she asked. But he had started to fade away. The stars in his pelt twinkling out.

"What's going on? Come back!" she cried out. "where are you go-" she stopped suddenly. A sharp, metallic smell that she had only ever smelled once before when Greykit stepped on a thorn. Blood. The scent was overpowering. She reeled, stumbling backwards only to find a huge pool of the thick liquid right behind her. She gasped and turned to run away, but froze on the spot when she heard **it**. The screams of dying and tortured cats, cutting through the silence. She ran up the hill before her and gaped in silent terror at the sight of the carnage spread out in front of her. As far as she could see, horribly twisted and mangled bodies drenched the moor in blood.

She trembled, and collapsed. She looked up to beg StarClan to stop this. But when she looked up, her eyes widened in wordless shock. The moon, the beautiful moon, was being eaten! No, not eaten, she realized…stained. Stained with the blood of thousands of cats. Lightning flashed, and in that flash of light, she saw a face, light brown tabby with amber eyes. A look of urgency adorned the pretty cats features. When she spoke, her voice was that of all of StarClan, roaring out over the screams.

_Five must come together,_

_To stop what cannot be seen._

_An ancient darkness is coming_

_And the moon will be dyed blood red._

Finally, she found her voice and she screamed, she shut her eyes to the horrors before her. Then suddenly, it stopped. She opened her eyes and saw another cat standing in front of her. She noticed his eyes first, 'such clear blue eyes' she thought, 'like chips of ice'. 'is he StarClan?' but she saw there were no stars in his tabby pelt. In fact, it seemed the opposite, like he was wrapped up in the inky black of the sky behind the stars. She began to tremble in feat, her own fur clinging to her like a second skin. He dipped his huge head so it was near hers and snarled in her ear, "you will tell no one of this. We have worked too hard for too long to let a **kit** get in our way." his cold breath ticking the soft fur around her ears.

"who, who are you?!" Snowkit asked, trying to steady her voice, "what are you trying to do?"

"all that you see before you." he whispered with his strange cold breath. He pulled his lips back into a cruel imitation of a smile, and straitened back up. He raised one of his massive front paws and swiped down at her unintentionally exposed throat.

Black spots swirled in front of her, delusions in her agony. She collapsed onto her side, and lay there. Her breath coming on short gasps. She tried to call out for help, but could only manage a horse wheezing. She closed her eyes and waited for something, anything, to take the pain away.

Then, just to torture her more, the screaming began again. Her eyes snapped open and she saw such horrible things, gaping jaws, bloody claws, and a pair of crystal blue eyes gazing almost proudly at the destruction and madness.

Finally, her eyes burst open, (and no, I don't mean her eyes exploded, silly peoples. I mean the opened really quickly.) and she saw the familiar gray and white fur of her brother sleeping next to her. She turned her head and saw the other comfortingly familiar pelt of Pinekit sleeping next to her. She stood up, careful not to wake anyone up, and walked outside. She looked up nervously half expecting the moon to be red still. That dream felt so real! The screams were still ringing in her head!

She breathed out the breath she didn't know she was holding when she saw the moon, still white, pure, untainted.

She tried to say something, but didn't really think she would be able to. So it was no surprise to her when all that came out of her throat was a sort of wheezy sigh.

'I wonder how long it will take for them to notice?' she thought to herself as she curled up in the middle of the camp in the soft moonlight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"MY KIT!!!" a screech shattered the beautiful morning silence, "WHERE IS MY KIT?!"

Somewhere deep within ShadowClan territory:

"Holy mouse tails! What was that?!"

"I don't know, but whatever it was it scared all the prey!"

"Should we tell Russetstar? There might be a fight!"

"hm, a fight you say…all right…HEY! A FROG!"

"I saw it first!"

Anyway! (oh how the proud have fallen)

"WHERE IS-THERE YOU ARE!" Whitewing pushed out of the brambles around the nursery and ran over to Snowkit.

"what are you doing out here? I was so worried about you!"

"…"

"well, are you just going to stand there and stare at me?"

"…"

"oh fine. But come over here. Lionheart wants to tell you something and you're a mess." Snowkit looked down and saw that her mother was indeed correct (mothers have a tendency to do that). She had dust and bits of moss all over her back and sides, and her fur was pushed up at odd angles from her moving around in her sleep so much. She walked over to her mother and let her lick her fur clean and smooth.

"what's this?" Whitewing spat out some grass that was in Snowkit's pelt, it was moor grass, only found in WindClan. "what have you been doing?" she asked. Snowkit turned to look , but when she saw the pieces of grass, her eyes widened and she began trembling.

"Snowkit?" her mother asked, "are you -" but she didn't get to finish her question. Snowkit tuned and ran as fast as her small legs would carry her out of the camp.

"Snowkit!" Whitewing called as she began to give chase.

"Whitewing!" called another voice, "what happened?!" it was Larkpaw, Whitewing's old apprentice, until she found out she was expecting kits and had to give her to Woodfur. Even though Larkpaw was a bit strange at times, Whitewing trusted her completely.

"it's Snowkit! She ran away!"

"WHAT!!!!!!!! What would she do that?!"

"I don't know, I'll tell Woodfur, you go get her!" but there was no reply. Larkpaw was already out of the camp racing after the runaway kit.

When she found her, Snowkit was on the border of WindClan territory. She was just sitting there, staring out across the moor.

"hey Snowkit, you alright?" Larkpaw called to the scared kitten. But when she didn't answer, Larkpaw walked over and sat next to her.

"you'll never believe how I found you." she began, trying to break the awkward silence, "Iwaswalkingalong,tryingtofindyou,whensuddenlyyourtrailvanished!Youmusthavetakenaspillorsomething,butanyway,Icouldn',!" she took in a huge breath and finished, panting. (translation: I was walking along, trying to find you, when suddenly your trail vanished! You must have taken a spill or something, but anyway, I couldn't find the trail again. Then I heard a flock of birds flying away, so I figured, it must be either you or those ShadowClan nutcases trying to take over again. So I went towards the sound and sure enough…there you were!)

'she only breathed once during that?!' Snowkit exclaimed in her head.

"hey, what's up with you today?" Larkpaw asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

'I wish I could tell you.' Snowkit thought sadly.

"I know!" Larkpaw exclaimed suddenly, startling Snowkit, "I know what your problem is!"

'she couldn't…'

"you're in love!!!"

'great StarClan, there is something wrong with this cat.' Snowkit gave her a strange look (kind of like this: O_o) but Larkpaw went on. "so who is it huh?! Come on, you can tell me! I won't tell…too many cats. Come on tell me! No wait! Don't tell me, I want to guess." she rambled on again. Snowkit got up and started walking back to the camp and Larkpaw followed, still talking.

"so, is it Quickpaw? No. Blackpaw? No, even worse. Hm, it couldn't be Woodfur or Darkjaw or, StarClan forbid, Runningmouth." Snowkit froze, shooting the apprentice a horrified look.

"yea, I thought so. So could it be Tallstone? He's pretty cool, I mean he's not really my type but you're not me so I wouldn't know about you." Snowkit shook her head smiled a bit. Larkpaw could always cheer her up.

"not Tallstone huh? Could it be Cloudfire then? I hate to break it to you, but I think he's got a thing for Goldenpaw." Snowkit shook her head again. They were nearing the camp by now and (thank StarClan) Larkpaw seemed to be running out of toms.

"all that's left is Lionheart and Emberlight and Lionheart's well you know, Lionheart…so it must be Emberlight!" Larkpaw practically screamed. Snowkit rolled her eyes and pushed through the thorns protecting the entrance to the camp with Larkpaw still behind her. As soon as she got into the camp, she was tackled by her mother.

"where were you?! Why did you run off like that?! Are you alright?" Whitewing demanded between frantic licks, not giving Snowkit time to answer any of her questions even if she could.

"Snowkit!" another voice called out to her. Lionheart ran over to them, "are you alright? What happened?" but of course, Snowkit said nothing.

"I was going to make you an apprentice today, but I think maybe I should wait until you're feeling better." Snowkit looked at her paws, but nodded.

"I think a quarter-moon at most." said Bramblestar, sneaking up on them again. "she's ready to be an apprentice. She's just had a bit of a scare." Snowkit brightened and was about to go back to the nursery when Bramblestar called her back. He leaned in and whispered to her "did Larkpaw bring you back?" Snowkit nodded.

"good. I want to make her a warrior. She's been an apprentice long enough." Snowkit beamed, happy that her friend was finally going to be a warrior.

"I'll go talk to Lionheart to settle on a name for her." he said, turning to leave.

Even in her happiness, Snowkit could not help but remember the nightmare. She slowly plodded towards the nursery, her tail dragging along the ground. Finally reaching her nest, she curled up into a fuzzy little ball and slipped into a perfectly dreamless sleep.

**_____________________________________________________________________________________**

**Sorry about the fact that the translation is different/longer then what Larkpaw actually said. is being a bit dumb right now.**


	4. Chapter 4

-1Chapter Four

"hey Larkpaw! Can we use your nest?" a small black cat called out to our gray and white friend.

"Quickpaw, last time you used my nest it was sticky, wet and when I woke up I was covered in bugs."

"come on! You always get the best mosses for the honey. We'll get you a new one this time instead of trying to wash it out. Please?!"

"no. I just got it the way I like it."

"_PLEASE?"_

"no."

"_PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?! PLEEEEEEEEEEE-"_

"alright! Just never do that again."

"alright!" he cheered, then turned and took a huge breath and, "HEY BLACKPAW! SHE SAID IT'S OKAY!" he yowled across the camp. Deafening all those in his path. (Those poor kitties.) A gray-ish black tom with black stripes looked up and tore out of the camp with Quickpaw sprinting behind him with a huge mouth full of Larkpaw's moss.

"don't forget to get more for me!" she yelled at their quickly retreating backs. 'well, I'd better go get more moss. It's not like they're going to.' she thought to herself and began walking towards the entrance.

She was almost there, when suddenly a dark brown tabby tom hurtled in, yowling at the top of his lungs, and sent her reeling in surprise.

"Darkjaw, what's going on?!" Lionheart raced out of the warriors den to find a stunned Larkpaw and Darkjaw gasping for air from the hard running. He had been on a patrol to the ShadowClan border. "what happened?!" Lionheart demanded.

"THE BUNNIES!!"

"huh?"

"THE BUNNIES!!THEY KILL HIM! THEY KILLED RUNNINGMOUTH! They'll find me…they **know** I got away…" he trailed off, shaking. His eyes tinged with madness.

"…..well then…uh…I guess we'll have to bring his body back." Lionheart said finally.

"THE BUNNIES!!"

"Sorreltail!" Bramblestar called, "I'm going to need some help. Jaypelt! Come check him over and make sure Darkjaw's alright. Besides the obvious I mean."

"and by "alright" you mean make sure he isn't delusional from eating some strange plant."

"………….well, yes."

Jaypelt walked over to the screaming cat and……..tackled him. Once the deranged cat was on the ground, Jaypelt had a couple other cats hold Darkjaw down as he opened his mouth, took a whiff, keeled over, and lay dazed on the ground.

"THEY TOLD ME TO!" Darkjaw screeched.

"they told you what?" asked Sorreltail.

"who said what now?"

"you did. You said 'they told me to'."

"THE BUNNIES!!"

"what did the bunnies tell you?" Sorreltail asked, getting annoyed.

"what are you saying? Bunnies can't talk." (Thin line between genius and insanity. Veeeery thin.)

Before any bloodshed could occur, the other members of the patrol came in, dragging the mangled body of Runningmouth with them.

"Bramblestar!" Redfoot called out, "what should we do with Runningmouth?"

"well I'll be a ShadowClan warrior's uncle (**1**)…how'd he die?"

"you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"killed by rabbits?"

"…………..okay maybe you would believe it. Oh and, you are a ShadowClan warrior's uncle, we met Tawnypelt at the border and she told us to tell you."

"weird… I guess I can't use that saying anymore then. Oh, and Sorreltail, " Bramblestar turned to Sorreltail once again, "do you think you and the elders could take care of Darkjaw? I don't think he'll be able to be on his own for a while. I'll go with his patrol and try to figure out why this happened."

"Bramblestar," Lionheart interrupted softly, so only Bramblestar could hear, "what about Larkpaw's warrior ceremony?"

"oh that's right. I'm getting too old for this." he said with a sigh. "never mind that." he told the patrol, "Lionheart, go with them and see what's going on."

"of course." Lionheart said with a nod. He went off with the patrol as Bramblestar bounded up the great rock. Calling the clan with the familiar cry;

"let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge. It's been a while since I've been able to perform this important duty." he said with a soft purr, "Larkpaw, it's about time you had your warrior ceremony. But I have a small surprise…Blackpaw and Quickpaw will also become warriors today." Larkpaw jumped up in excitement, and looked around for her friends( er, "friends"). Only to find, they were still missing.

"Blackpaw? Quickpaw?" Bramblestar looked around for the two apprentices, "let me guess, the bees are back?"

"oh yeah!" Larkpaw exclaimed, "they asked for my moss so they could go collect honey! Sorry, I forgot about that!"

Bramblestar sighed, "Squirrelflight, love, will you do the honors?"

"of course…_**BLACKPAW! QUICKPAW**_!" she screeched. The cry echoed all through the forest and the surrounding area.

Somewhere deep in RiverClan territory:

"what in StarClan's name was that eh?!"

"I dunno. It sounded something like 'Blackpaw' and 'Quickpaw'. but what the heck does that mean?"

"isn't that those two ThunderClan apprentices?"

"oh yeah….geez those guy's were weird eh?"

"mm-hm."

The two young toms came racing in a second after the echo's stopped. Quickpaw's short black fur was covered in thick, gooey honey and Blackpaw's gray-brown fur was dripping water, forming a puddle of mud.

"what happened?" Blackpaw asked, breathless from running so far in so little time.

"yeah what happened? Did somebody die?! Was it Goldenpaw?! NOOOO! Cloudfire, dude, sorry, but I always loved her…Goldenpaw! Why?! Why must the good die young?!" Quickpaw collapsed into the sticky mess beneath him as Cloudfire bristled. Goldenpaw leaned over and quickly licked down his hackles and whispered something to calm him down.

"Quickpaw!" Squirrelflight mewed sharply, "yes someone died, but it was Runningmouth so no worries. Anyway, you two, along with Larkpaw, are to have your warrior ceremony now. So get over here without touching anyone."

Blackpaw looked over to Larkpaw, then over to Quickpaw who seemed just as confused.

"_**NOW!!**_"

Quickpaw was the first to react, he jumped up and sprinted into the crowd of cats at the base of the Highrock, before skidding to a halt at the front of the clan. Blackpaw and Larkpaw looked at each other, then stood up and walked over to stand beside him with a little more dignity, but their eyes shone with excitement.

Bramblestar looked down at them proudly, and continued with the time honored ceremony.

"I, Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn. Larkpaw, Blackpaw, Quickpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost

of your life?"

A breeze blew softly through camp, ruffling the apprentices' fur as they answered as one, "I do." (A/N: super-corny…)

"then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior name. Larkpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Larksong. StarClan honors your courage and your enthusiasm and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." He took a step foreword and rested his muzzle on Larksong's head, and the new warrior gave his shoulder a respectful lick before stepping back to join the other warriors.

"Blackpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Blackstorm. StarClan honors your bravery and your strength and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." he rested his muzzle on Blackstorm's wet head and the new warrior licked his shoulder and stepped back to stand with Larksong.

"Quickpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Quickfang. StarClan honors your bravery and enthusiasm and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Bramblestar stepped up, hesitated a bit at the sight of the golden liquid slowly dripping down his small black head, but placed his muzzle very lightly on Quickfang's head anyway. The young warrior licked the clan leader's shoulder respectively and stepped back amidst the cheering and chanting of his clan mates.

Snowkit squeezed through the tangle of bodies to her friend and proudly looked up at her, purring loudly.

The new warriors turned to face each other and walked to the front of the camp, ready to sit vigil, as traditional.

They sat just short of the mess made by Blackstorm and Quickfang. Larksong looked at it disapprovingly, and turned to look at them, they shrugged _seemingly_ unconcerned.

'I hope this freezes tonight!' they both thought desperately.

'at least it smells sweet…' Larksong tried to think optimistically, 'no wait, that's Quickfang.'

**(1)- like 'well I'll be a monkey's uncle**


	5. allegiances

-1**My characters:**

**Silverpaw** - silver/gray she cat, blue eyes; long fur; only kit of Graystripe and Millie

**Larkpaw** (Larksong) - gray with creamy yellow throat and chest; green eyes

**Darkjaw** - dark brown tabby tom; yellow eyes; lives in the elders den b/c he's gone mad

**Runningmouth **- doesn't matter he's dead. (before you write angry letters, you should know that nobody really liked him)

**Redfoot** - brown she cat with black-ish red paws and tail; dark eyes

**Cloudfire **- white with big black patches, orange eyes; always seen with Goldenpaw

**Goldenpaw **- pretty pale gold she cat; long fur; green eyes; always with Cloudfire (heart-throb of all the clans, much to their annoyance)

**Blackpaw **(Blackstorm) - gray-ish brown tom; black stripes; blue eyes; likes collecting honey and doing nothing

**Quickpaw **(Quickfang) - small-ish black tom; yellow eyes; hyper; likes collecting honey with Blackpaw/storm

**Lionheart **(II?) - large golden tom; yellow eyes; strict yet fun-ish

(not really mine)

**Tallstone **- tall tortoise shell tom; orange eyes; stoic

**Woodfur **- brown tom; short fur; pale yellow eyes; talks a lot; second mentor to Larkpaw

**Iceclaw **- white she cat; long fur; blue eyes; very nervous/fidgety/ skittish

**Emberlight **- orange tabby tom; orange eyes; soft spoken; strategist

**Characters in my story I did not make up:**

Bramblestar

Poppyleaf

Honeypelt

Hazelfur

Mouseclaw

Berrytail

Holly

Jaypelt

Foxheart (but he's really nice)

**Elders:**

Dustpelt

Thornclaw

Sorreltail

Brook

Stormfur

Daisy

Squirrelflight

Brightheart

Cloudtail

**Other important figures:**

Bailey - kitty pet (wavering on joining the clans)


	6. Chapter 5

-1Chapter five 

"ah! Feels good to be able to talk again. Don't you think?" Larksong said with a stretch as the sun rose, "Blackstorm? Quickfang?" she turned to look at her friends…only to find a pair of icicles shaped like cats. 'sigh…I guess I have to help them…' she thought, 'and so early in the morning too.'

she walked over to the fresh kill pile, ate a mouse, for good breath, and walked back to them. She went to Blackstorm first and breathed into his face to melt the ice.

"……………….mmm, mouse…hey! I can move my face again!"

"mm-hm. You're also covered in icicles." Larksong replied before breathing on Quickfang's face.

"hey! I can talk and - nbuoajdshfgiodngaeklrzjgioazg! (choking on honey) damn. I'm still covered in honey…"

"did you expect it to just vanish? Of course you're still covered in honey." Larksong said giving him a strange look, "well, I guess we have to get you two cleaned up." she stood up and started walking out. "you guys coming?"

"uh, we can't move. We froze to the ground." Blackstorm said, a bit embarrassed.

"sure you can move. You just need some……persuasion." she said with a purr and an evil glint in her green eyes.

"uh, Larksong…what are you planning?" Quickfang asked nervously. Larksong had moved to the side of them and started backing up.

"if you don't move, I'm going to ram you." she said, making sure she was aimed right.

"NO LARKSONG DON'T-" the toms yowled. But it was too late. She started running towards them, Blackstorm managed to get his legs working and jumped out of the way with a shower of tiny ice crystals. Quickfang, not so lucky. The poor tom was sent flying across the camp.

Through her laughter, Larksong heard a rustling from behind her. She turned to find herself facing the nursery, and Snowkit's questioning amber eyes. The young cat didn't actually say anything, but she seemed to say "why did you do that?"

"well you see Snowkit, he was frozen to the ground. So, really, I helped him by ramming into him at full speed." Larksong said, answering the unasked question.

This explanation seemed to satisfy Snowkit, who sat down to watch the new warriors.

"how did you get covered in honey in the first place?" Larksong demanded, standing over the dazed Quickfang.

"you know how it takes a lot of concentration to get bees to give up their honey?" Blackstorm answered for his friend.

"lets pretend that I do." Larksong replied.

"well…when Squirrelflight shouted for us, it startled a squirrel which fell from a tree and hit Quickfang who fell into the honey we had collected. Then the squirrel freaked out and crashed into me and I fell into the river." Blackstorm explained.

"so it was a fall-a-thon then?" Larksong purred.

"yeah. I'm just mad we didn't catch that squirrel!" Blackstorm purred back.

"well, I know a way to get the ice off you, so why don't we do that now?"

"sounds good!" Quickfang agreed from the ground.

"alright lets go! Our first job as warriors!" Larksong cheered.

Snowkit rushed out, not wanting to be left behind, and crashed into Blackstorm's muscled gray-brown, ice covered flank. Blackstorm loomed over the small brown kit, "you want to go with us?"

Snowkit shrank back a bit and gave a barely perceptible nod. Even with a pelt of icicles, Blackstorm was an intimidating presence.

"stop that! You're scaring her!" Larksong told him and flicked him with her tail, "sure you can come with us, go tell your mother and we'll be off."

Snowkit nodded happily and ran back into the nursery.

"okay come on! Lets go before she comes back!" Quickfang whispered.

"you're heartless!" gasped Larksong, "no. I told her she could so she is coming with us." Quickfang sighed, "man, I hate kits."

"you're never going to get a mate if you keep saying that." Larksong warned.

-With Snowkit-

'mouse tails! How am I going to tell someone of I can't talk?!' when she got into the nursery, she was astounded that…NOBODY ELSE WAS AWAKE! How could the sleep through the racket the warriors were making?!

She walked over to her mother and gently nosed her awake.

"wha-…" she asked sleepily. Snowkit pointed outside with her tail towards the three warriors and looked back at her mother.

"you want to go with them?" Whitewing asked her daughter. Snowkit nodded eagerly, relieved that her mother understood and she didn't have to drag Larksong in to explain.

"alright. Just stay with them. For StarClan's sake, **stay with them**." and with that, she rolled over and went back to sleep.

Snowkit purred loudly and ran out through the brambles around the nursery.

"geez, it took you long enough." grouched Quickfang.

"oh shut up will you? The sun just started coming up, we have plenty of time." Blackstorm said and flicked him in the face with his tail.

"yeah Quickfang." Larksong agreed and started walking out of the camp, "just because you don't like kits doesn't mean it's okay to be mean to them."

"how come you always agree with him?" Quickfang whined, "it's always Blackstorm!"

"I'll agree to whoever has a good point." she retorted quickly, ears starting to get hot from embarrassment.

"hey, it's not her fault I'm smarter then you." Blackstorm smirked, thought his ears were also getting warm.

'wow. I think **I'm** more mature then these three.' Snowkit thought, amused to no end by the warriors.

"here we are!" Larksong announced as they came up to a stream. They stopped at the high bank and looked down into the gently swirling water below.

"and how is this going to help us get the icicles off?" Quickfang asked, more then a little bit nervous.

"hold on a minute…" Blackstorm murmured, once again seeing the evil glint in the she cat's eyes.

"Snowkit, if you're anything like me……you're going to love this." Larksong said, not taking her eyes off the scared toms. Snowkit looked up at her and back at the toms, and smiled.

"aw, fox dung." Blackstorm cursed as he understood what was going on. His shoulders slumped, making the slowly melting icicles studding his pelt sparkle and clink together like tiny bells in the sunlight.

"ahhh! My eyes!" Quickfang stumbled back, blinded by the light bouncing off his friend. Blackstorm tuned to look at him and Larksong took this opportunity to turn and kick them off the bank with her strong hind legs. (luckily the water was fairly deep)

"ah, that was more fun then it should have been." Larksong laughed and looked at the younger cat next to her. Snowkit purred and smiled as well.

She told Snowkit to stay at the high bank then ran down to an area of the bank where it was almost level with the stream and waited for the two come up.

Two heads came up a moment later, spluttering and indignant. They began swimming to the bank where the two she cats were.

"well, that solves that problem," Larksong said in a easy-going manor, like she hadn't just kicked her friends into a river, "lets go home."

She turned to walk away, when Blackstorm lunged out of the water, grabbed her tail and dragged her back into the stream with them.

"ahhhhh! Snowkit! Help me!" she yowled as she thrashed about in the water. Snowkit looked down at the cats in the stream, trotted down to the almost-level area of the bank and sat down. Once again, to watch the new warriors make complete fools of themselves.

"you are the cruelest kit I've ever met." Larksong muttered to Snowkit as they waked back to the camp. Snowkit stuck her little pink tongue out at her and bounded away into the ferns.

When they got back, the warriors left for the warriors den, ready to sleep the day away. Snowkit looked around, bored. Suddenly, she saw Jaypelt come out of his den and head towards the fresh-kill pile.

'I bet he could help me, but how would I get him to understand that I wasn't just following him around for the sake of being annoying?' she thought dejectedly and slumped down near the nursery entrance and closed her eyes.

"hey." a voice came from in front of her. Startled, she jumped up, her fur completely fluffed out and her ears flat on her head. Then she realized it was only Jaypelt with a pigeon.

"calm down, geez. I could feel you across the camp." he said as he nudged the bird towards her, "share a pigeon with me?" he asked out of nowhere.

'uh oh.' she nodded, but as we all know, a nod's as good as a wink to a blind medicine cat.

"well?" he asked once more. She nodded furiously, hoping that maybe he would feel the vibrations in the air or something.

"no need to ignore me, if you aren't hungry then say so." he said her, a little peeved.

"I don't think she can." a new voice joined the slightly one-sided conversation. This voice also surprised Snowkit, but the managed not have a total spazz this time.

'am I paying less attention the usual or is it everybody scare Snowkit day?' Snowkit thought bitterly as she turned to glare who was talking, and nearly jumped out of her fur for the third time. Looming over her was the big grey-brown form of Blackstorm. She let out a hoarse wheezy sound of surprise (the only sound she could make besides purring remember?) and darted behind Jaypelt.

Jaypelt's ears pricked at the sound, 'she really can't speak then?'

"what did I told you about scaring kits?!" an angry voice tore through the camp as Larksong marched up and biffed Blackstorm hard in the shoulder.

"I don't mean to! I just stand next to them and the freak out!" he pleaded with the angry she-cat.

"I don't care whether you mean to or not, it happens and you need to be more careful!"

"lets leave these two to their fighting." Jaypelt said quietly to Snowkit, "let's go to my den, we'll see what we can do about your voice."

**And here it ends because I can't thing of anything else at the moment. Damned writers block. **


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter six

"here." Jaypelt pushed a leaf with small black poppy seeds on it towards Snowkit, "eat these."

Snowkit hesitated, 'weren't these for killing pain? Oh well, medicine cat knows best.' she thought and licked up the seeds. She looked up and got a bit weirded out when she saw Jaypelt sitting across from her.

Staring.

Just…staring, with those blue eyes that for all the world did not look blind. She frowned, and tried to move, but her limbs felt like tree branches- awkward and heavy.

'what's going on?' she thought, then flopped over, out cold.

Jaypelt smiled and licked up the seeds he took out for himself and lay down in front of her. He closed his eyes, though he really didn't need to, and felt the familiar pull of sleep.

When Snowkit awoke, she was in a small clearing in an unfamiliar forest. She was all alone in a dark forest, yet, she was not afraid. She sat up and started slightly when she realize she was not alone. Not only was Jaypelt suddenly also in the clearing, but there seemed to be a murmur of voices coming from everywhere. They seemed good natured, though she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it was far too similar to her dream for comfort and she shrank down again.

"it's alright." Jaypelt told her, as if he knew what she was thinking, "it's StarClan. They won't hurt you."

'StarClan?' Snowkit's ears perked, 'maybe they can tell me what's going on, what they want me to do.'

She looked over to the medicine cat and noticed that his eyes seemed clearer somehow. He was looking up at the stars, which also seemed clearer and brighter in this place, wherever they were.

'can he see here?' she thought, but pushed the thought away. 'that's ridiculous…right? If he could see then I could talk.'

"Snowkit," she looked up, Jaypelt was looking directly at her. All her doubts about his sight vanished, "what happened." (a/n: so demanding!)

Snowkit all but shrank. Her ears lay flat on her head, her tail wrapped tightly around her paws.

"I…" she gasped, "I can talk!" she looked up at Jaypelt. He was smiling gently and nodded.

"here we can do things we cannot do in the waking world. I can see, and you can talk." his voice was so different here. He spoke with all the wisdom of StarClan, their voices melding with his.

"I…well-" she was cut off. At that moment, Greykit burst into the den, waking both of them up.

"Jaypelt! Darkjaw's all crazy again!" he yowled.

Jaypelt sighed, and went farther back into the den to find some herbs to take care of the crazed cat. Snowkit walked outside and her jaw dropped when he saw what was going on. Darkjaw was running amuck through the camp.

There were flowers everywhere, and the brambles from the nursery and warrior's den was strung about like ivy. Darkjaw was in the middle of the chaos, trying to dig a hole. All the while screaming about how the bunnies were going to kill him.

Jaypelt came out with a wad of leaves in his mouth, Snowkit and Greykit led him to where Darkjaw lay curled up in the nonexistent hole.

"here. These will stop the bunnies." he told him and placed the leaves in front of the dark brown tabby. Darkjaw looked up, suspicious, and began muttering about how the blind one was working with the evil rabbits, but he ate the herbs anyway.

A couple seconds later, Darkjaw was on his side, snoring loud enough for RiverClan to hear.

"well that exhausted my supply of poppy seeds, I had to give him six to be sure it would work." Jaypelt said to no one in particular. The other ThunderClan cats came out and dragged Darkjaw's sleeping form back to the elder's den.

Snowkit went to her nest in the nursery, thinking about the dream. She remembered StarClan getting louder, or maybe she had listened more carefully. She clearly heard what they were saying just before she woke up;

"welcome young warrior".

**Lame ending for a short chapter. I know, I know. Sorry for the wait, but it probably bothered me more then you.**


	8. Chapter 7

-1Chapter 7

And so the quarter-moon to apprenticeship passed. Darkjaw had many more "episodes", providing endless amusement for all the clan. Jaypelt had to borrow poppy seeds from RiverClan and WindClan because Darkjaw needed to be sedated after his episodes, but the small black seeds needed to be hidden carefully because the dark tabby was now suspicious of Jaypelt.

Snowkit spent her time with Greykit and Pinekit playing catch-the-falling-leaf and pass-the-dead-mouse. (a/n: sounds like fun eh?)

But soon enough, at moonhigh, Tallstone, Redfoot and Emberlight sat in the center of the clearing with Whitewing and the three kits. Nice and shiny clean from the thorough clean she had given them all.

Bramblestar sat atop the Highledge and gazed down at all the ThunderClan cats gathered for this sacred ceremony.

"this moonhigh, we gather together to name three new apprentices. Come foreword you three" he called out. He looked to Snowkit first, "from this day foreword, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be called Snowpaw."

"Tallstone, you are ready for your first apprentice. You will begin Snowpaw's training. Your mentor was Lionheart and I hope you will pass on his skill and wisdom to your apprentice." the tall tortoise shell tom stepped foreword and gently touched noses with the newly named Snowpaw.

Bramblestar looked to Greykit next, "and this apprentice will be known as Greypaw. Redfoot, you will train Greypaw. Mouseclaw was your mentor and I hope that you will pass onto Greykit what you learned from him." Redfoot stepped foreword as Tallstone had and touched noses with the practically-squirming-with-excitement Greypaw.

And lastly, Bramblestar looked to Pinekit, "this apprentice will be known as Pinepaw. Emberlight, you are also ready for your first apprentice. You will begin Pinepaw's training. Your mentor was Foxheart and I expect you to share with her the skills you learned from him." again, Emberlight stepped up to Pinepaw and leaned down to touch noses with her.

The new mentors stepped back, apprentices at their side, and looked back at Bramblestar. He looked down and smiled, "you're in luck Snowpaw, Greypaw, Pinepaw, if all goes well, you may get to go to the gathering tomorrow."

The apprentices eyes lit up and they looked at each other excitedly.

A gathering!

The clan was dismissed, and the three new apprentices went to the apprentice den for the first time.

"great StarClan, why me?!" Greypaw moaned.

"what are you talking about?" Pinepaw asked him, "didn't you want to be an apprentice?"

"of course! But my mentor is Redfoot! She's the meanest of all the mentors!" he wailed.

"oh, you've just been listening to rumors." Silverpaw said as she walked in with Goldenpaw, "Redfoot's not mean, she's just a bit strict. Oh and, Snowpaw, Tallstone never really talks. The rare times he does he mumbles. Just warning you. Same with Emberlight, minus the mumbling."

"you guys got good mentors, I don't know what you're complaining about." Goldenpaw said as she settled down in her nest, "get some rest, the first day is usually the hardest."

...

The next morning, after breakfast, Tallstone, Redfoot and Emberlight took their new apprentices out. Redfoot showed Greypaw where to get moss for nests and had him change the elder's bedding. After that she took him out for battle training, saying they would learn the boundaries tomorrow. And thus Greypaw learned that Redfoot was not mean, just a bit scary.

Emberlight took Pinepaw out to explore the WindClan border, and Tallstone took Snowpaw to explore the ShadowClan border, where they ran into the dawn patrol consisting of Lionheart, Foxheart, Larksong, Poppyleaf and Blackstorm.

"hi Snowpaw!" Blackstorm said to the apprentice attempting to hide behind a rock half her size. She jumped and dove into a fern.

Larksong shot Blackstorm a look and pushed him into a fern covered in dew.

"I didn't do anything!"

"then why is Snowpaw hiding in a plant?!"

"how should I know!

They continued arguing as the others looked on in amusement.

Lionheart leaned over to Poppyleaf, "are they always like this?"

"I think they like each other." Poppyleaf whispered back.

Lionheart began shaking with barely contained laughter. "I …" he cleared his throat and pushed the laughter down, "I see." then he snorted, the laugh coming back.

"are you alright?" Foxheart asked and Lionheart bit his lips.

Unable to hold it in, the deputy fell onto his side and began howling with laughter and rolling around on the forest floor.

The other cats fell silent and stared at him, along with the rest of the forest, or so it seemed.

After a while he stopped laughing. "ah, that was good. I needed that." he stood up and shook himself off.

"geez, I knew ThunderClan cats were weird but, wow Lionheart that certainly takes the thrush**(1)**." a new voice came from the direction of the ShadowClan border.

They turned towards the new voice, hackled raised, but lowered them in relief when the saw it was Tawnypelt.

"hey Tawnypelt, long time no see." Lionheart greeted the queen cheerfully, "shouldn't you be in the nursery?"

"I wanted to show Bramblestar my kit." she replied and the ThunderClan cats noticed the kitten playing with the leaves on the ground.

"well come with us then. We were just heading back."

Snowkit pocked her head out of the bush at that, why were they bringing a ShadowClan warrior to Bramblestar? Okay, so she probably couldn't do much with a kit in tow, but nonetheless, ShadowClan cats were evil!

Tawnypelt, looked over at her, "hey, you have a kit following you."

Lionheart looked at the small cat in the plant, "no, that's Tallstone's apprentice."

"new kid huh?" she walked over to the fern and looked Snowpaw in the eyes, "you scared of me?"

Snowpaw sat down to stop her legs from shaking, but met the queen's gaze. After a short staring contest, Tawnypelt sat back and barked a laugh, "Ha! You got guts kid, I'll give you that. What's your name?"

"…………"

"……Tallstone, you're rubbing off on her."

"her name's Snowpaw." Larksong put in.

"oh, hey Larkpaw. Didn't see you there…why are you sitting on Blackpaw?"

"I'm Lark**song **now, and I'm sitting on Black**storm** because he's a meanie-face who likes scaring apprentices."

"I didn't do anything!" Blackstorm wailed.

"eh. Whatever." Tawnypelt turned away and followed Lionheart back to the ThunderClan camp.

The kit bounded over to Snowpaw, who leaned over and peered at it curiously.

'I wonder what- OUCH!' her thought interrupted as the kit decided her nose was a good place to sink it's claws. She turned tail and ran, the kitten hard on her heels.

"what's this? Afraid of a kit Snowpaw?" Foxheart called after her.

Snowpaw turned around and was about to glare at him when the kit chomped on her tail. Her entire body fluffed out and she fled once more.

"that's some kit you've got there Tawnypelt." Lionheart said once he's stopped laughing.

"yes…he'll be a great warrior one day."

...

"Bramblestar! You have visitors!" Lionheart yowled as he entered the camp.

"what? Who?" Bramblestar, who had been sharing tongues with Squirrelflight, stood and stretched.

"your dearly beloved sister of course!" Tawnypelt said as she stepped out from behind the patrol, her kit batting at her swishing tail, "and you're new nephew Horsekit!"

"Tawnypelt! It's so good to see you!" the ThunderClan leader bounded over to greet his sister, followed closely by his mate.

"I haven't seen you in so long!" Squirrelflight exclaimed, "and now you have a kit! Great StarClan, What else did I miss?!"

"only another one of Ashstar's friendship speeches."

"oooh, another one?" she winced, then smiled, "now I'm glad I wasn't at the last gathering."

By now Horsekit had found Snowpaw again and was chasing the apprentice around the camp, nipping at her hind legs.

'how can he run so fast?! He's only a couple weeks old!' she thought desperately, then crashed right into Darkjaw.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" he screamed as Horsekit clamped his tiny teeth down on his tail. Horsekit let go and began pawing at his tongue.

"eeeew. Crazy cat tastes funny." he said, much to the amusement of everyone else. The ThunderClan camp erupted into laughter.

...

After Tawnypelt and Horsekit left, ThunderClan began preparing for the gathering that night. As of yet, the new apprentices had yet to do wrong, (a/n: that will change. Don't worry) so were allowed to go.

On the way to the island, Silverpaw whispered to the three of them, "once we cross the tree bridge, you'll want to avoid Goldenpaw, at all costs if possible."

"huh? Why?" Greypaw asked, for he too had developed a crush on the pretty she-cat.

"safety precautions. You'll see." she told them hurriedly, then ran off.

"err, okay?" Pinepaw said and looked at he siblings in confusion. Snowpaw and Greypaw shrugged and Greypaw looked up at Goldenpaw and said, "well, Silverpaw knows best I suppose."

They soon found out why Silverpaw told them that, because as soon as they saw Goldenpaw disappear into the clearing, the cries began.

"Goldenpaw! Come sit by me!"

"No Goldenpaw, sit over here!"

"I caught you a fish Goldenpaw!"

"I saved you a seat Goldenpaw!"

"I love you Goldenpaw!"

And these were just the loudest. Snowpaw laughed silently as she saw the crowds of young toms surge forward, calling out to the golden furred apprentice. Cloudfire's hackles went up and Goldenpaw only laughed as he stepped in front of her in a futile attempt to stop the proclamations of love.

"I love you Goldenpaw!"

"I love you more Goldenpaw!"

"shut up! You're a ShadowClan warrior for StarClan's sake!"

"don't judge me for who I love!"

From behind them, Snowpaw heard Iceclaw moan, "oh, not again! I told Bramblestar to leave her back at the camp, but did he listen to me? No."

Snowpaw turned and looked questioningly at Iceclaw. The white queen looked over and noticed Snowpaw staring, "this happens at every gathering. Bramblestar just wont leave her at the camp. I think he has a soft spot for her…just like every other tom in this forest."

Snowpaw laughed (silently) and pushed her way through into the clearing.

Upon entering, she saw that it seemed to be only ShadowClan and RiverClan (and some ThunderClan) calling out to Goldenpaw. The slim WindClan cats were huddled in small groups looking around as if expecting an attack at any time.

Upon closer inspection, Snowpaw saw that their coats were ragged and scruffy looking, barely clinging to their small frames.

'whoa, I heard WindClan cats were skinny, but this is ridiculous!' she thought as she looked around the clearing.

Bramblestar, Ashstar, Mistystar, and Russetstar were sitting in the branches of the tree and the deputies - Lionheart, Heatherfur, Rippletail, and Ivypelt - sat up on the roots of the big pine tree. She also noticed that Lionheart appeared to greet the pretty (but still a bit scruffy and paranoid looking) WindClan deputy a little too cheerfully, but she figured she must be imagining things.

She decided to sit with Pinepaw, who was talking with a RiverClan apprentice.

"hello! I'm Rushpaw, from RiverClan! What's your name?" the RiverClan she cat shouted over the noise of Goldenpaw's admirers.

"I'm Pinepaw, oh, and this is my sister, Snowpaw." she said as Snowpaw sat down beside her, "She, my brother Greypaw, and I were made apprentices yesterday." Pinepaw shouted back.

"he, me too! I guess yesterday was a good day for naming apprentices." Rushpaw said, her voice growing quieter as the noise level dropped.

Russetstar stepped forward.

"ShadowClan is doing well."

She stepped back.

'that's it?' Snowpaw thought, a bit confused. 'I guess there's just nothing going on over there.'

Mistystar stepped foreword, "a small dog found it's way into our territory a quarter moon back, but Minnowtail and Pebbleclaw chased it away."

Snowpaw looked around and saw two RiverClan cats sit up a bit taller. 'I guess that's them. Okay, good to know.'

Mistystar went on, "one of our warriors, Blackclaw, now has a new apprentice, Rushpaw."

Snowpaw and Pinepaw looked at the RiverClan apprentice. Rushpaw looked at her paws with an embarrassed smile.

Mistystar stepped back and Bramblestar took her place.

"ThunderClan is also doing well. We have three new apprentices, Pinepaw Snowpaw and Greypaw."

Snowpaw ducked behind Pinepaw, trying to avoid the stares of the clan cats.

"Snowpaw, you know you're bad at hiding. You couldn't hide to save your life." a horribly familiar voice whispered in her ear. She turned her head slowly, Blackstorm was sitting right next to her.

Staring at her.

Just…staring.

'it's like he can see into my soul!' she thought, panicking.

She turned back to the front just as slowly as she had turned to look at the tom, and focused on the leaders. Pushing the thought of Blackstorm to the back of her mind.

She noticed that Mistystar, Russetstar, and Bramblestar were trying to coax Ashstar to the front to speak for her clan, but she frightened cat wouldn't budge. Heatherfur looked up, then addressed the clans, "WindClan has had some trouble, but it is nothing we can't overcome."

'look at them, a strong breeze would topple them right over!' Snowpaw thought.

"I remember Blackclaw telling me that WindClan is very proud." Rushpaw whispered to Pinepaw and Snowpaw. "I think something really bad happened but they don't want to seem weak."

"WindClan is as bad as ShadowClan now! I remember when WindClan was close friends with ThunderClan and not above asking for help when they needed it." Snowpaw turned around and saw Squirrelflight nod in agreement to Sorreltail and then reply, "yes. That RiverClan apprentice is right. WindClan is in trouble and there's really nothing we can do to help."

Just then, Russetstar stepped foreword again, "this gathering is over." she said, surprisingly not unkindly.

Snowpaw noticed the WindClan cats immediately separate from the group and head out.

'I hope they'll be alright.'

**Yes Adderstar. I know what I did. Blackclaw returns again! (this message brought to you by the department of redundancies department) Crap, I hope that wasn't copywrited.**

**(1) Warrior version of "that takes the cake" since, I'm guessing, they don't actually have cake.**


	9. Chapter 9

-1At the end of the group Blackstorm and Quickfang walked back to the ThunderClan camp. Once inside, they saw Darkjaw knocked out in the middle with Jaypelt sitting near him, his tail swishing back and forth furiously.

"Great StarClan, Jaypelt! What's got your whiskers in a twist?" Blackstorm laughed.

"this, this… THING!"

"what, Darkjaw?"

"yes! Do you know what he did while you were gone?!"

Quickfang was about to remind him that they had in fact been **gone** so couldn't possibly know what had happened, but Jaypelt pushed on without an answer.

"I don't know how he did it, but somehow he snuck past everyone and got out! We didn't even know he was gone until he came running back here with a giant fish in his jaws and a whole RiverClan patrol at his tail! Once we'd explained how he isn't right in the mind, they said they didn't want the fish back and would take two rabbits in exchange. Well, that of course set him off again and we had to spend precious rabbit-hunting time chasing him down!"

By now there was quite a crowd gathered around the angry medicine cat.

"as if that wasn't bad enough, then we had to ask for more poppy seeds from RiverClan because THERE ARE NO MORE IN THUNDERCLAN TERRITORY!!! So we held this abomination down until they came back then we got them the rabbits and they finally left."

"wow." was all Blackstorm could say.

"I don't think I'll be able to talk to RiverClan for a while." Goldenpaw said. Everyone laughed. Especially Cloudfire.

Bramblestar sighed, "did the fish taste good at least?"

"that's the worst part!" Jaypelt seethed, "he didn't even eat the fish! HE SAT ON IT!"

Snowpaw peeked at his tail and it was indeed covered in scales.

"it it a crime to sit on a fish?" Quickfang stepped forward and said with as much dignity as one can when saying such a sentence.

Dustpelt too, stepped up, "in my day, if a cat wanted to sit on a fish, well he went ahead and did so!"

"it's a crime if it's someone else's fish!" Larksong spluttered through her laughter.

Blackstorm leaned over to Larksong and murmured, "I think I like him a lot better now that he's crazy. When he was sane he was just annoying."

Then Darkjaw woke up.

Larksong whispered back dryly, "speak of Tigerstar and Tigerstar shall appear."

Darkjaw turned his head slowly to look at them. He calmly took a deep breath…then screamed at an impossible volume "SECRETS MAKE NO FRIENDS!!!!"

Squirrelflight stumbled out of the elders den, startled by the screaming and still half asleep.

"are we being attacked again?" she asked drowsily.

"Squirrelflight, love, go back to sleep." Bramblestar said calmly.

"ha…stupid…ShadowClan…knew we'd win…" she muttered as she turned around and went back into the elder's den.

"heh-heh. Two litters older **(1)** and I'm still more sane then her!" Dustpelt cackled. Iceclaw flicked his nose with her tail tip, "be nice."

"hey!" Dustpelt wheezed and spat, hackles raising, "respect your elders you kitten!"

"calm down old timer." Tallstone murmured, "let's get you back to you nice soft moss. Greypaw collected it this morning just for you."

"Greypaw you say? It's probably full of bugs and twigs! The kit's dumber then a mouse tail!" Dustpelt griped, but allowed himself to be led back to the elders den.

Snowpaw snuck a look at her mentor and realized that the entire time his face had stayed the same!

'come to think of it…' she mused, "I've never seen him smile or heard him laugh before.'

She gasped, 'maybe he doesn't know how to laugh!'

She kicked out at her brother as he bunched his muscles to launch himself at Dustpelt, and thought , 'I'll do it! I'll make him smile again! It's my duty as his faithful apprentice!'

Larksong and Blackstorm stared in wonder as a beautiful sunset appeared behind her with crashing waves and glittering sea spray.

"I'm just gonna…" Blackstorm began.

"yeah. Me too." Larksong said. And they walked off to the warrior's den.

**.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.!!next day!!.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.**

Tallstone woke Snowpaw up bright and early the next morning for some warrior training. Sadly, it was too early for Snowpaw and she only heard about half of his mumblings.

"we need to" mumble mumble "and then we're" mumble mumble "and that will" mumble mumble "and yeah. That's it. You got it?"

Snowpaw blinked blearily at him which he seemed to take for a yes. "good." mumble "breakfast and we'll be off."

'I heard the word breakfast.' Snowpaw thought and walked over to the fresh kill pile. She picked out a thin, gamy squirrel, figuring all the chewing would wake her up.

Once she ate they went off into the training hollow. Now fully conscience, Snowpaw remembered what she had promised the night before.

'Tallstone, today you will smile. Mark my thoughts, you will smile.' she thought to herself, 'or, if not smile, then show some kind of emotion! Yes. I guarantee it.'

She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't notice that Tallstone had stopped talking and was staring at her with what might have been confusion. But, seeing as it was Tallstone, it was probably just a trick of the light.

**________________________________________________________________________**

**(1) I don't know if the Warrior cats know about generations and stuff, but…oh well.**

**Anyway, yay for Tallstone! And not-whiny-and-stupid!Blackstorm!**

**He wasn't supposed to be whiny and stupid, he just sort of came off that way. I'm trying to fix it.**

**Sorry about the whole, chapter 7 to chapter 9 thing. My bad. You didn't miss a chapter. Sorry.**


End file.
